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Christmas Palm Woes
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Posted by gary30mazak NC 8a (My Page) on Wed, Jul 16, 08 at 19:03
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RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| Keep them warm and slightly moist, but NO DIRECT SUN until the new spear is visibly active. You can feed and give sun at that point. It may be many weeks. Most palms are finicky when their roots are tampered with so you need to be patient. Did you break any roots? Palms are not like most plants that will branch new roots where they are cut. Instead, the entire root usually dies and a new one grows from the base of the stem in the root initiation zone. What you did was risky. Good luck. |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| I wish I had a dime for every Christmas palm I've killed. A poster on this forum once suggested that I use a soil mixture of upwards of 50% coarse sand. (I don't use such a high sand ratio for the other palms.) So now the Christmas palm is in very sandy soil that I keep moist. I find this species is quite quick to show browning if it gets too dry or other conditions don't meet its likes. It went through the winter fine and is growing like crazy now in a very sunny location outside where it gets hosed down every day. However, ease off on your watering until new growth commences (a quart or two every other day sounds excessive at this point). Personally, I do not fertilize so quickly after transplanting (most commercial soil mixes already have nutrients in them and I'm afraid of burning the root system still recuperating from the move). I do agree with the above posting that your palms need to be shaded from the sun until they acclimate (especially in this heat). Palms do have fragile root systems but most should be able to survive a division and transplanting if done properly (sterile knife, cutting not pulling, etc.). Good luck! |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| No fertilizer at first is good advise but they do need root starter to help with the transplant shock. |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| David, By "root starter" do you mean "rooting hormone"? How is root starter applied?--I've used rooting hormone before for cutting but not on established (transplanted) plants. Thanks in advance. |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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I mix some rooting hormone into the compost when I separate my butterfly palms. The survival rate is a lot greater when hormone is added. Did you damage the roots? Palms can be very sensitive to root disturbance/damage. Also, gently pull the growth spear to see if it is still alive. If the palm is dead, the spear will easily come out, and may be rotten.
I hope they recover!
James |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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Out of the sun today but still getting worse. The new spears are still green and still look healthy. I hope it makes it. I think trying to repot now would kill them for sure. The X-mas palm seems like it is a very temperemental palm. When I repotted my other palms they took and greened up the next day. I have a sabal palmmetto that was almost dead when I got it and it sprang right back to life, almost overnight it seemed.
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RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| I am telling you, this has also been my experience and I have over 30 different species of palms. Personally, I find them very temperamental. Everyone says how coconuts are impossible in the north but this particular species has been MORE problematical for me to keep alive! Look at them the wrong way and they start to brown overnight! If my current specimen dies--that's it, I give up!!!!!! I've had that browning without ever doing a transplanting. |
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| You should not fertilize or give them palm food right after transplanting. They probably are in shock. Give them some time. No direct sun and no fertilization till they get better. Also don't cut half died leaves, it will stress out your Christmas Palm even more. Put them in shade and mist them with water in the evening. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas Palm Tree
RE: Christmas Palm Woes
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| I agree that these are tempermental . They always have been real touchy for me. Root disturbance = transplant shock pretty much always on these. |
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